my words get all jumbled

I suddenly see ourselves in the future, passing USB drives with episode downloads in alley ways wearing a trench coat and a hat. 

#people on street corners with shifty eyes #hey man do you have arrested development season two #no but #i know a guy

#i’ll give you the pilot but the entire season’s gonna cost ya

#WHERE’S MY 30 ROCK BITCH? #gunshots #WHERE’S MY 30 ROCK?

(Source: castle41319)

Lots of spoilers, accusing Moffat of bad writing and general overuse of the words ‘spectacular’, ‘stupid’ and ‘cringey’ below.

Right, so. I’ve been reading a lot of different opinions here, from those who OMG LOVED IT to those who called Moffat a misogynistic, sexist what-have-you who is afraid of women. I don’t agree with the former, but that doesn’t mean that I have to agree with the latter either. At least not completely.

A few posts with good reasoning as to why it was a problematic episode (although I don’t agree with all of them) can be found here:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

First of all: I love Moffat’s brain. I think he’s spectacularly clever and over all I don’t think that his female characters are horrible, as a few of these posts argue. He has his moments, sure, but he’s also in a position where nothing he does is ever right. For example, he was criticised for only showing fatherhood in Doctor Who, never motherhood. Up came the Christmas special, which was entirely about motherhood, and immediately people started to complain that being a mum was ALL there was to this character. So, yeah. Can’t do right, by some.

I’m generally not a great fan of shows that doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, but Sherlock has so far, not been about love or sexuality or any of those things. It has been about a man with a pretty, pretty brain, and people who assume that his roommate finds it as hot as they do. Which is why I loved it! So very much.

Then there was the Scandal in Belgravia, and my reaction thereof, which was pretty much: ewww.

My main problems may or may not be these:

1. Having a woman whose sole power lies in “I know what he likes” in reference to 18312414 government officials/royalty/other useful people? Icky.
2. Having a woman who is gay, yet obviously hot for the man with the pretty brain? Weird.
3. Having John Watson openly state: “I’m not gay you know”? Uh, what?
4. Having a woman who, in canon, left Sherlock bested, first begging for mercy, and later, on her knees, preparing to die when the hero SWOOPS IN? Yeah. That.

I’m not one of those people who has to have my hero be asexual damn it. I want to pat the Doctor Who fan boys who shriek about the Doctor kissing River, on the head before giving them milk and cookies and telling them to think about happy things. Sherlock, though? Yeah. He’s just so very cold. He doesn’t care. The Doctor is warm and fun and you know… the Doctor. Sherlock cares about nothing but reason (except, obviously, Mrs Hudson), and I don’t want a woman to swoop in and pretend that she can cuddle him better.

Not that Irene Adler is a cuddler. But you know.

And that’s not even mentioning the sexuality that is sprinkled through the episode like goddamn fairydust. I’m not opposed to a strong female with a healthy view of sex and a way of using it to her advantage. What I am opposed to is shoe horning her into a show to somehow - my interpretation - exclaim to anyone who cares to listen that SHERLOCK IS STRAIGHT WE PROMISE SEE HE’S HOT FOR THIS WOMAN HERE. That’s not only weird, it’s also not true to canon (see the pic above), to the characters, to the premise or anything that could possibly make sense.

So, yes. My main problem was the spectacular case of de-gaying that this whole episode was. From beginning to end. It’s a shame, because done differently this episode could’ve been utterly fascinating. Give Sherlock a smart, together, powerful woman. Let him be intrigued by her. Let him try to figure her out. That is interesting. That suits him as a character. Don’t have her giving him ‘seductive’ line after ‘seductive’ line, trying to… I don’t even know. Make him uncomfortable? Make us cringe? Make herself look ridiculous?

Meh.

I also believe that a woman like Irene Adler should have more power than that of “oh I know what X likes”, and “I know what Y likes” and “I’ll know what you like soon enough”. That’s just cringey, dumb and unfitting to the show as a whole. I read somewhere the suggestion that she did all of this to get what she wanted, to push him to the breaking point. I wish I could believe in that explanation. I don’t. I just think it’s bad writing; most likely to appease the SHERLOCK IS NOT GAY :| crowd.

And really? Irene Adler as a character deserves so much better than this. And in my head she was totally brutally killed, which is so not a “riding off into the sunset” moment, but it does mean she was more than a maiden fair. To me the Sherlock she saw was her imagination, a desperate attempt to find a way out of a situation that cannot be undone. Heartbreaking, yes. And much more suited to her as a character.

As for the SHERLOCKED bit of the pass code for the phone? Ugh. Give me a fucking break.

And since I’m on it: I absolutely loved the idea of two blokes, one asexual and/or uninterested and one straight and/or hopeless, living together and the world assuming they were gay. It was one of those “yeah, the slash writes itself anyway so here you go” things that makes me so happy. So no. I’m not annoyed with the de-gaying because I want to slash it up (in fact, I may judge you just a little if you see slash in everything), but because it a) spells out that being asexual/uninterested is NOT OKAY, b) that people assuming you’re gay when you’re not is equally ALL CAPS NOT OKAY, and c) it robbed us of the show creators who weren’t afraid of playing with these assumptions and stereotypes, and mock them just a little.

Moffat, you can do much, much better than this. And yes, I will keep watching. But don’t disappoint me. I will look like this if you do: :C :C :C

I finished Buffy. Now I feel rather bereft. I never used to be much of a TV watcher, but in the last six months or so I’ve watched Doctor Who (all new series), Fringe (seasons 2 and 3), Torchwood (all of it), Daria (all of it) and, of course, How I Met Your Mother, some Glee (I gave up after the first season) and… I think that’s it.

I’m kind of tired now. And also, the hole in my head regarding pop culture is at least somewhat filled. I suppose that’s the good part.

Next up? I don’t know. I have friends advocating for Community and siblings saying DEXTER DEXTER DEXTER. Maybe I’ll just curl up in a ball and watch nothing but football games until the dreaded summer interlull.

Ha. As if. Then how will I get any knitting done?

(I would go on to watch anything James Marsters has ever been in, but I think if I see him talk in an American accent my head will explode. I like him as Spike and Captain John, thank you.)

I can’t get over that Daria went on to DATE TOM. Please make this Is It Fall Yet movie be a dream. I don’t even care that it’s the sort of cop out that makes a story decidedly lame.

I should add: as much as I adore Daria I cringe every time they put the fat lady on. Stereotyping everything, fine, but fat jokes are never funny. Especially not when you have to point out that they are.